Public Info: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Statistics, SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies

In 2002, an estimated 19.5 million Americans, or 8.3 percent of the population aged 12 or older, were current illicit drug users. Current drug use means use of an illicit drug during the month prior to the survey interview.

In 2002, an estimated 2.0 million persons (0.9 percent) were current cocaine users, 567,000 of whom used crack. Hallucinogens were used by 1.2 million persons, including 676,000 users of Ecstasy. There were an estimated 166,000 current heroin users.

Among youths aged 12 to 17, 11.6 percent were current illicit drug users. The rate of use was highest among young adults (18 to 25 years) at 20.2 percent. Among adults aged 26 or older, 5.8 percent reported current illicit drug use.

Among pregnant women aged 15 to 44 years, 3.3 percent reported using illicit drugs in the month prior to their interview. This rate was significantly lower than the rate among women aged 15 to 44 who were not pregnant (10.3 percent).

In 2002, an estimated 11.0 million persons reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year. This corresponds to 4.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older. The rate was 10 percent or greater for each age from 17 to 25, with 21 year olds reporting the highest rate of any age (18.0 percent). Among adults aged 26 or older, the rate was 3.0 percent.

An estimated 120 million Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2002 survey (51.0 percent). About 54 million (22.9 percent) participated in binge drinking at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey, and 15.9 million (6.7 percent) were heavy drinkers.

An estimated 71.5 million Americans (30.4 percent of the population aged 12 or older) reported current use (past month use) of a tobacco product in 2002. About 61.1 million (26.0 percent) smoked cigarettes, 12.8 million (5.4 percent) smoked cigars, 7.8 million (3.3 percent) used smokeless tobacco, and 1.8 million (0.8 percent) smoked tobacco in pipes.

The percentage of youths aged 12 to 17 who had ever used marijuana declined slightly from 2001 to 2002 (21.9 to 20.6 percent). Among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate increased slightly from 53.0 percent in 2001 to 53.8 percent in 2002.

The percentage of youths aged 12 to 17 who had ever used cocaine increased slightly from 2001 to 2002 (2.3 to 2.7 percent). Among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate increased slightly from 14.9 percent in 2001 to 15.4 percent in 2002.

The rate of lifetime daily cigarette use among youths aged 12 to 17 declined from 10.6 percent in 2001 to 8.2 percent in 2002. There also was a small decline in lifetime prevalence among young adults (37.7 to 37.1 percent) from 2001 to 2002.

Trends in Initiation of Substance Use (Incidence)

There were an estimated 2.6 million new marijuana users in 2001. This number is similar to the numbers of new users each year since 1995, but above the number in 1990 (1.6 million).

The number of new daily cigarette smokers decreased from 2.1 million in 1998 to 1.4 million in 2001. Among youths under 18, the number of new daily smokers decreased from 1.1 million per year between 1997 and 2000 to 757,000 in 2001. This corresponds to a decrease from about 3,000 to about 2,000 new youth smokers per day.

Youth Prevention-Related Measures

Among youths indicating that "smoking marijuana once a month" was a "great risk," only 1.9 percent indicated that they had used marijuana in the past month. However, among youths who indicated "moderate, slight, or no risk," the prevalence rate was almost 6 times larger (11.3 percent).

The percentages of youths reporting that it was fairly or very easy to obtain specific drugs were 55.0 percent for marijuana, 25.0 percent for cocaine, 19.4 percent for LSD, and 15.8 percent for heroin.

Most youths (89.1 percent) reported that their parents would strongly disapprove of their trying marijuana once or twice. Among these youths, only 5.5 percent had used marijuana in the past month. However, among youths who perceived that their parents would only somewhat disapprove or neither approve nor disapprove of their trying marijuana, 30.2 percent reported past month use of marijuana.

Substance Dependence or Abuse

An estimated 22.0 million Americans in 2002 were classified with substance dependence or abuse (9.4 percent of the total population aged 12 or older). Of these, 3.2 million were classified with dependence on or abuse of both alcohol and illicit drugs, 3.9 million were dependent on or abused illicit drugs but not alcohol, and 14.9 million were dependent on or abused alcohol but not illicit drugs.

Among persons aged 12 or older in 2002, the rate of substance dependence or abuse was highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (14.1 percent). The next highest rate was among persons reporting two or more races (13.0 percent). Asians had the lowest rate of dependence or abuse (4.2 percent). The rate was similar among blacks and whites (9.5 and 9.3 percent, respectively). Among Hispanics, the rate was 10.4 percent.

In 2002, an estimated 19.7 percent of unemployed adults aged 18 or older were classified with dependence or abuse, while 10.6 percent of full-time employed adults and 10.5 percent of part-time employed adults were classified as such. However, most adults with substance dependence or abuse were employed either full or part time. Of the 19.8 million adults classified with dependence or abuse, 15.3 million (77.1 percent) were employed.

Treatment and Treatment Need for Substance Problems

An estimated 3.5 million people aged 12 or older (1.5 percent of the population) received some kind of treatment for a problem related to the use of alcohol or illicit drugs in the 12 months prior to being interviewed in 2002. Of these, 2.2 million received treatment for alcohol during their most recent treatment. An estimated 974,000 persons received treatment for marijuana, 796,000 persons for cocaine, 360,000 for pain relievers, and 277,000 for heroin. Most people receiving treatment received it at a "specialty" substance abuse facility (2.3 million).

In 2002, the estimated number of persons aged 12 or older needing treatment for an illicit drug problem was 7.7 million (3.3 percent of the total population). Of these persons, 1.4 million (18.2 percent) received treatment for drug abuse at a specialty substance abuse facility in the past 12 months. Of the 6.3 million people who needed drug treatment but did not receive treatment at a specialty facility in 2002, an estimated 362,000 (5.7 percent) reported that they felt they needed treatment for their drug problem. This included an estimated 88,000 (24.4 percent) who reported that they made an effort but were unable to get treatment and 274,000 (75.6 percent) who reported making no effort to get treatment.

In 2002, the estimated number of persons aged 12 or older needing treatment for an alcohol problem was 18.6 million (7.9 percent of the total population). Of these, 8.3 percent (1.5 million) received alcohol treatment at a specialty substance abuse facility in the past 12 months. Of the 17.1 million people who needed but did not receive alcohol treatment, an estimated 761,000 (4.5 percent) reported that they felt they needed treatment for their alcohol problem. Of the 761,000 persons, 266,000 (35 percent) reported that they made an effort but were unable to get treatment, and 495,000 (65 percent) reported making no effort to get treatment.

Serious Mental Illness among Adults

In 2002, there were an estimated 17.5 million adults aged 18 or older with serious mental illness. This represents 8.3 percent of all adults. Rates of serious mental illness were highest for persons aged 18 to 25 (13.2 percent) and lowest for persons aged 50 or older (4.9 percent). The percentage of females with serious mental illness was higher than the percentage of males (10.5 vs. 6.0 percent).

Adults who used illicit drugs were more than twice as likely to have serious mental illness as adults who did not use an illicit drug. In 2002, among adults who used an illicit drug in the past year, 17.1 percent had serious mental illness in that year, while the rate was 6.9 percent among adults who did not use an illicit drug.

Treatment for Mental Health Problems

In 2002, an estimated 27.3 million adults (13.0 percent) received mental health treatment in the 12 months prior to the interview.

Among the 17.5 million adults with serious mental illness in 2002, 8.4 million (47.9 percent) received treatment for a mental health problem in the 12 months prior to the interview.

Among adults with serious mental illness, 30.5 percent perceived an unmet need for mental health treatment in the 12 months prior to their interview. The most often reported reasons for not getting needed treatment were "could not afford the cost" (44.3 percent) and "did not know where to go for services" (20.5 percent).

In 2002, an estimated 4.8 million youths aged 12 to 17 received treatment or counseling for emotional or behavior problems in the year prior to the interview. This represents 19.3 percent of this population.

The reason cited most often by youths for their latest treatment session was "felt depressed" (49.5 percent of youths receiving treatment), followed by "breaking rules or acting out" (26.7 percent), "thought about killing self or tried to kill self" (19.5 percent), and "felt very afraid or tense" (19.5 percent).